Railroad-rail joint



(No Model.)

E. C. EDWARDS.

RAILROAD RAIL JOIN'I" No. 597,271A Patented Jan. 11,1898.

UNITED STATES*- PATnNr @triceo ELBERT C. EDWARDS, OF EMPORIA, KANSAS.

RAILROAD-RAIL JOiNT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 597,271, dated January11, 1898.

Application led March 26, 1897- Serial No. 629,419. (No model.)

.To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELBERT C. EDWARDS, of Emporia, in the county ofLyon, State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Railroad-Bail Joints, of which the following is a completespecication, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

The object of Vmy invention is to produce simple and practicable meansto be employed upon existing railroads without change of the railsthemselves. that will constitute, in effeet, a continuous rail.

My invention, while adapted to permit of the necessary expansion andcontraction of the rail,is at the same time adapted to present at thejoints of a track at the point at whichv the ends of the contiguousrails meet a resistance against depression equal to or greater than theresistance offered at any otherpoint on the rail.

The device most generally employed for uniting the abutting ends ofrails is commonly known as a fish-plate. This device, while meeting inmany respects practical requirements, aiords little or no resistanceagainst depression under the weight of loads imposed upon the rails bythe wheels of passing cars. Consequently it is found in practice, evenwith most careful attention to the road-bed,that a carin traveling overthe track receives a slight jolt at each rail-joint. This jolt isperceptible in traveling over the best of roads and becomes adistinctsource of annoyance to passengers on any road, no matter how thoroughthe eftortv may be to keep it constantly in perfect repair. Moreover,the passing of wheels over the joint formed by contiguous rails tends ina very little while to wear oft the ends of the rails, thereby not onlyincreasing the jolt which the cars receive at the joints, but alsoproducing speedy destruction of the rails,to repair which requiresconstant attention and expenditure.

To overcome the practical difficulties suggested by the conditions aboveenumerated, various means have from time to time been devised. Amongothers may be mentioned railway-chairs and splice-bars of various kinds.Such instrumentalities, however, although inv some instances adapted tomeasurably correct the evil, are in many respects open to the sameobjections above recited as against the fish-plate j oi nt-namely,thatthey permit some depression of the abutting ends of the rails. Thereforewhile they may retard the wear they do not altogether eradicate'itscause and are for that reason objectionable.

By my invention a practically continuous, stift; and unyielding rail maybe provided throughout the entire length of a track and one adapted toperform its function under all conditions to which it is likely to besub-V jected.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure I is a perspective view of asection of a track, showing two abutting rails united by my continuousrail-section with the stopblock in place. Fig. II is a similar view ofthe same; looking at it from the opposite side. Fig. III is a section onthe line III HI of Fig. I. Fig. IV is a section on the line IV IV ofFig. I. Fig. V is a view similar to Fig. I with the stop-block omitted.

Referring to the gures on the drawings, 1 indicates the cross-ties as ofan ordinary road-bed, four being illustrated in the drawings.

2 indicates one rail, and 3 another. are supported upon a iiat baseplateet. is preferably provided on one side with a vertical ilange 5, whichwhen employed may enter channels 6, provided for it in the ties l.

Incorporated with or secured to the baseplate is a continuousrail-section 7, which is provided with a head S, having preferablyinclined ends 9 and IO. On its outerside the rail-section is preferablyprovided with a channel 11, corresponding to the channel defined by theweb of a rail between its base Th ey and head and in that manner adaptedto re- 13 maybe continuous; but I prefer to provide near its middleportion a recess 17, alined with a socket or box 18 in the bed-plate inIOO order to accommodate a stop-block 19. The stop-block is in effect ashort section of a rail provided with a flat side 20, that is adapted tobe interposed between the abutting rails 2 and 3, for example, and toform a substantial continuation thereof, the head 21 ofthe stopblockbeing flush with the-head 8 of the continuous rail-section. I prefer,but do not restrict myself to the employment of, a removable stop-block.

The rails are provided with usual or suitable bolt-holes that registerwith boltholes 22 in the rail-section 7 and are adapted to receive bolts23, which, as by means of nuts 24, are adapted to secure the fish-plate12 on one side of the continuous rail-section to a second fish-plate 25,lying against the webs of the rails 2 and 3 in the usual manner.

By the employment of the fish -plates in connection with the otherelements of the joint previously described an exceedingly stiff anddurable union of the partsis secured. Moreover, the iishplate 25, lyingagainst the Web 26 of the stop-block, serves to secure that iirmly inposition within its socket.

The stop block is employed to prevent creeping of the rails, as Whenthey are laid upon an incline, and may be employed or omitted, asoccasion requires. All that is necessary to accommodate the samecontinuons rail-section for use without the introduction of thestop-block is to remove the latter from its socket and to cause the endsof the rails to abut directly against each other, in which position theymay be fastened together in the manner similar to that alreadydescribed, as shown in Fig. V of the drawings. f vided with a flangeadapted to enter channels v in the .cross-ties, of ya continuousrail-section An important feature of my invention is found in itslongitudinal extent, and this is not a mere difference in degree, but isa distinctly novel recognition of and adaptation to the conditions underwhich it may be used in practice and the objects sought to beaccomplished by its use.

In practice the cross-ties of a railroad-bed are spaced at regularintervals, differing somewhat more or less in different localities. Itis essential to the successful employment of my continuous rail-sectionthat it should be of a length sufficient to span not less than threecross-tiesin order that the opposite ends of the base-plate may havesecure terminal supports upon the ties and intermediate supportindependent of those ties. Heretofore rail-chairs stretching betweenadjoining ties have been used, but their failure in part to correct theevil which they were designed to remedy has been due to the fact thatthe ties do not afford su flicient support to prevent depression at thejoint of the rails.

In my continuous rail-section I not only provide cross-ties as terminalsupports for the base plate and the parts secured thereto, whichconstitute, in effect, a bridge as well as an intermediatesupportunderneath the joint, but I also provide a head 8 of limited extent thatis located opposite tothe joint between abutting rails. The ends 9 andlO of the continuous rail-section are inclined away from the heads ofthe abutting rails, so that while they contribute strength vto therail-section as a bridge they are not required to support the weightimposed by a wheel directly above or Y approximately above the terminalsupporting-ties.

In practice the tread of the wheel in passing over abutting ends of therails is sustained by the head 8 of my continuous rail-section, so thatthe joint of the rails is practically entirely relieved of the weight ofthe wheel, which, on the contrary, resting butr lightly upon theintermediate supporting member or cross-tie, is distributed in obliquedirections toward the terminal supporting members or cross-ties. Vhenthe stop-block is in place, it affords an additional support for thetread of a passing Wheel.

l. The combination with a base-plate, and continuous rail-sectionadapted to be secured tor abutting rails, and provided with a headadapted to lie ush with the ordinary heads of the rails to which it issecured, of inclined Walls extending substantially between the lends ofthe base-plate and the head of the continuous rail, whereby the Weightimposed upon the head of the continuous rail is disi tributed throughoutthe extent of the baseplate, as upon a bridge, substantially as setforth.l

2. The combination with a base-plate proadapted to be secured toabutting rails and provided with a head designed to be fiush with thetops of the rails secured to the railsection, substantially as setforth.

3. The combination with a base-plate and continuous rail-section, of aflange upon the rail-section, a socket in the base-plate, and a recessin the flange in alinement with the socket, both adapted to receive aremovable stop-block, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

4. The combination withabase-plate, acontinuous rail-section and flangeupon the railsection, of a socket in the base-plate, a recess in theflange, alining with the socket, and a stop-block provided with a webfor the reception of a fish-plate, substantially in the manner and forthe purpose speciiied.

In testimony of all which I have hereunto subscribed my name.

ELBERT C. EDWVARDS.

W'itnesses:

M. WARREN, W. W. JONES.

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